Nissan is Recalling cars in Japan

Rafael Nash |Monday, December 10, 2018

2018 Nissan Murano Platinum

Japanese prosecutors plan to indict Nissan Motor Co. on Monday following the arrest of its former Chairman Carlos Ghosn who allegedly understated his compensation in the automaker's financial reports, investigative sources said Friday.

Ghosn and his close aide Greg Kelly, who was arrested along with the former chairman last month, are also expected to be indicted.

In terms of specific charges, Reuters cites Nikkei's claim that all three entities will be indicted for underreporting salaries in five separate reports, and it's possible that both Ghosn and Kelly will be rearrested in connection with misstatements in the years that followed the underreporting of salaries.

Ghosn and Kelly have not made any statement through their lawyers, but Japanese media reported that they have denied the allegations.

Nikkei said prosecutors appear to be pressing charges against Nissan for not stopping its leader from allegedly stating false information over a number of years.

A person with knowledge of the investigation confirmed that Hiroto Saikawa, Nissan's chief executive, had been named in documents related to post-retirement arrangements for Mr Ghosn.

The recall also comes despite a final report released in September on measures to prevent misconduct from recurring and restore trust of clients following a series of misconduct.

The new accusation is also expected to be announced next week.

The auto company said the Nissan board "confirmed that the long-standing Alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged and that the mission is to minimize the potential impact and confusion on the day-to-day cooperation among the Alliance partners". "We will continue to do so", spokesman Nicholas Maxfield told AFP.

Nissan has removed Ghosn, 64, from the post of chairman, with an in-house probe finding he had conducted "serious misconduct" including using company assets for personal purposes.